Lucas, Kansas

From Mushroom Rock, we headed over to the town of Lucas, Kansas.  We have been following some of the geography wonders of Kansas and decided to take a look at Lucas because it won several of the competitions for the eight Wonders of Kansas in the Art and Commerce areas.  Lucas seems to be the center of grassroots art. 

Since I really was not familiar with what grassroots art was, I had to look it up on grassrootsart.net.  Specifically, "Grassroots art is a term describing art made by people with no formal artistic training . . . (usually of retirement age) using ordinary materials in an extraordinary way . . . and frequently creating a whole artistic environment around themselves, effectively making themselves part of the artwork.

Such work tends to be difficult to classify because it falls outside the sphere of fine art as well as that of traditional folk art in which skills and patterns may be passed from one generation to another.
Whether it’s called art brut or outsider art, the phenomenon is world-wide, with sites identified from France to India, Switzerland to Thailand, and all over the United States.

• Kansas ranks third in the States in the number of grassroots art sites, after Wisconsin and California.
• Grassroots art environments tend to be rather ephemeral, with ninety percent of the sites destroyed at the death of the maker.
• Over the last thirty years, enthusiasts have tried to document sites photographically and to preserve some part of them; the Grassroots Art Center is involved both in documenting and in preserving sites."

We found Lucas to be very intriguing and so much so that we have several different posts on the town and the various grassroots art.  We spent quite a bit of time in Lucas and enjoyed it all.

Street Wall Mural

This wall mural is on a local grocery store and is in honor of the Czech people who immigrated to this area and their use of the Native Dakota Sandstone.

The World's Largest Souvenir Plate

We loved this piece of art that is just outside of town.  It is the world's largest souvenir plate and was completed by artist, Erika Nelson in 2006.

A lot of Stone buildings from nearby quarries are in town

This is one of the homes built from the Native Dakota sandstone.

Art along the road coming into Lucas

More Yard Art

One of the 8 Wonders of Kansas - Commerce was this local meat market.

 We bought some great summer sausage from here!  Brant's Meat Market in Lucas won one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas in the Commerce area.   Brant's makes all their meat products on site using a variety of old-fashioned methods.  The market has been in business since 1922.  Doug Brant waited on us and we got to sample several of the home-made products.  We bought some of his ring bologna and it was very good..

Lee paying for our food.